Email automation, the programmed sending of prepared emails based on some trigger event, has been around for several years now.
It originally fell within the purview of marketing automation platforms (e.g. Hubspot or Marketo), but more recently, has become integrated into even the low-cost email platforms (e.g. EMMA or MailChimp).
Here’s an example of how it might work… let’s say you send out a monthly enewsletter to your sales database. Inside the email is a link back to a blog post about Product Testing on your website. Pretty standard, right?
Now imagine that everyone who clicks on that link is automatically sent a second email 3 days later, linking them to another blog post on a related topic. Pretty neat, right? [Note: it’s the clicking on the link that’s the ‘trigger event.’]
Let’s keep going… and for everyone who clicks on the link in the second email, they receive a third email a few days later, this time with an invitation to register for a webinar on Product Testing. Wow!
OK, so why is this important? For three key reason…
- It reinforces your SME – Subject Matter Expertise – in the marketplace. In the example above, we provided an opportunity for three touch points to showcase our expertise around Product Testing. Traditional email marketing can offer only one.
- It helps sales prospects to move through the Buying Funnel™. Look at the example above… if the process would have stopped after just one touch point (the first email), not much would have happened. But after three touch points (or more), the email recipients interested in the topic are now much more engaged with your firm as a possible supplier.
- It supports Sales. Did I mention that these email platforms not only track click-thrus and automatically send the next email in the series, they will also tell you WHO the individuals were that did the clicking?! Which means that you can forward those contacts to your business development team for follow-up – this time with a specific reason to make the call.
If email marketing is part of your marketing program (and it SHOULD be), think about how you could integrate email automation into your efforts. It can provide a level of consistency and frequency that’s nearly impossible to do manually.